Author: Rin Chupeco
Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Amish
Format: Protected PDF via Netgalley
Pages: 432 (in print)
Publication Date: 03/7/2017
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
★★☆☆☆
In the captivating start to a new, darkly lyrical fantasy series for readers of Leigh Bardugo and Sabaa Tahir, Tea can raise the dead, but resurrection comes at a price...
Let me be clear: I never intended to raise my brother from his grave, though he may claim otherwise. If there's anything I've learned from him in the years since, it's that the dead hide truths as well as the living.
When Tea accidentally resurrects her brother from the dead, she learns she is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy means that she's a bone witch, a title that makes her feared and ostracized by her community. But Tea finds solace and guidance with an older, wiser bone witch, who takes Tea and her brother to another land for training.
In her new home, Tea puts all her energy into becoming an asha―one who can wield elemental magic. But dark forces are approaching quickly, and in the face of danger, Tea will have to overcome her obstacles...and make a powerful choice.
Memoirs of a Geisha meets The Name of the Wind in this brilliant new fantasy series by Rin Chupeco!
Well. Where do I start?
This is going to be a tough review, in a number of ways.
I want to start out by being as fair as I possibly can about this review, so I'll start out with telling you the most important thing: I didn't like this book. You need to know that going forward, because it's important to me to be as constructive as possible and to provide my readers with information about the reasons that I did and did not enjoy a novel.
So out of fairness to the author, I want to say this: I have not been a fan of fantasy novels for quite a number of years, and this book might actually have changed that.
Surprising, considering that I didn't like the book.
Let me give you a few other positives about this book (for me, anyway). The leading character (a witch-come-geisha known [called an asha] known as Tea) is a woman of color. Excellent representation in a fantasy novel. One of her friends, who works in one of the shops, is a cross-dressing adolescent whose story I won't spoil for you.
So in terms of representation, this book has done an excellent job of providing adequate representation of these marginalized groups. I like that. It felt good, and it wasn't forced. I like it even more that it was noticeable without being forced.
These are good things that I think might appeal to a young adult audience.
Unfortunately, for me there were just too many things I hated about this book.
First, the length. There is no reason that this book had to be over 400 pages long. It was a lot of reading (work) for very little reward for me.
One of the problems with this is that I couldn't follow thin threads of story from the beginning of the novel all the way to the end. Events int he very beginning become relevant much later in the book, and without bookmarking key events, I was lost. I've learned my lesson: Bookmark liberally when reading fantasy.
(Don't get me wrong, I love long books if the story can support the book's length, but in this case the book was longer than the story was). This book could have done with more editing and a sharper blade in the hands of the editor.
The second thing about this book that I struggled with was the number of names. There are a lot of characters. This is fantasy so that's to be expected. However, the author names each of these characters and there are so many of them that it's near impossible to keep them straight.
I was able to keep track of the obvious: Tea, Fox, Mykaela, Parmina. Beyond that, I began to feel foggy headed, including the two love interests. Which leads me to my third point.
There doesn't have to be a love triangle. Really. Seriously. You do not need to include a love triangle. You certainly do not need to announce in the narrative that there is a love triangle.
Tea points out early in the (first person) narrative that she would meet two boys she would fall in love with during her lifetime. After that, there is very little focus on romance. It comes together very quickly, around the time of the book's climax.
Which (point number four) arrives a bit late in the novel and left me confused and hanging on the next book (which I don't intend to read).
So, largely, this book left me feeling unsatisfied and displeased with having spent so much time reading it.
I want more story than this. I want more movement. While I appreciate world-building, I want more from the story than what I got here. It was difficult to follow, and there was so much potential here.
I wish the author all of the success in the world and I hope that her book flies off the shelves and that she writes many successful novels to follow. Unfortunately, this one just let me down.
Please note that this review contains affiliate links. You help support my book habit by purchasing the books I review!
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. The thoughts and opinions contained herein are solely my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment